Citrus Hollow
by Isangtao
Summary: First Bleach fic. With Karin, Ichigo and Isshin away for a trip, Yuzu gets captured by Aizen. What follows will change Soul Society forever. Includes side story, Lieutenant Hanataro. Rewrite in progress.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. The franchise is owned by its respectful owners**

**Citrus Hollow**

**Chapter 1: It Begins**

"Yuzu, are you sure you're okay with us leaving? We don't know when we'll be coming back," asked Ichigo as he walked out the door of the Kurosaki household, a large suitcase at the ready.

The girl in question, Kurosaki Yuzu, was standing by the doorway. She has light brown hair that's cut to the base of her neck. Today she was wearing a simple green hooded sweatshirt, a yellow skirt, and a red hairclip on the left side of her head. She was talking to her brother, Kurosaki Ichigo.

"It's alright, but why are you taking Karin with you?"

"I'm sorry this is so sudden Yuzu, but I gotta go with the old man and Ichigo here, someone's gonna have to keep these two in check," said Karin, who was in the living room, making last minute changes to her luggage. She was Yuzu's fraternal twin sister and was more tomboyish in nature. She has black hair cut in the same length as Yuzu's, but is arranged in a more masculine appearance. She was wearing a basic white t-shirt with sneakers and denim shorts.

Yuzu nodded.

"Where are you guys going again?" she asked.

"The old man has to visit a patient in Tokyo, Ichigo is coming to lift the luggage, and I'm coming to keep these two in line," answered Karin, now zipping up her bag.

Just then, a loud voice called out.

"Karin! Ichigo! Hurry up! We're going to miss the train!" called out Kurosaki Isshin, father of the three Kurosakis inside the house.

"Fine, fine! We're coming! Well, take care of yourself Yuzu, and be careful," said Ichigo.

"Yeah Yuzu, bye," said Karin.

Both of them walked out the door, joining Isshin outside the house, who was standing beside a taxi and was waiting for Karin and Ichigo.

When all the luggage has been stuffed in the trunk and all three safely inside the car, Isshin poked out the window and waved at the only Kurosaki remaining behind.

"Ahh my darling daughter! Having to stay all alone in the house! She truly has grown up from being a child! I promise to finish my work quickly so we can watch Don Kanonji together again!" shouted Isshin at Yuzu, waking up the entire neighborhood and forcing Karin to drag him back to the car.

"Shut up! It's seven in the morning and you're waking up the entire town!"

Yuzu simply chuckled at this display and waved back. One someone living with the Kurosakis since she was born tends to get used to these kinds of things very quickly. She never noticed a pair of yellow eyes looking at her direction, which promptly disappeared moment later.

At the taxi, Karin, Isshin, and Ichigo were on their way, not to Tokyo as they said, but to a secret location where Soul Society's representative in the human world, Urahara Kisuke, was waiting for them. They were to be taken to the Seireitei, headquarters of the Soul Reapers, where a great war between a rogue Soul Reaper named Sosuke Aizen and the Soul Society is being prepared for. Karin, Ichigo, and Isshin are to participate in the war.

"I still can't believe we're going to leave Yuzu like that," muttered Ichigo.

"I know, but it's for the best, if we go to Seireitei, at least we can help end this war sooner. Beside, Kisuke has promised to take care of Yuzu," said Isshin.

Ichigo sighed, and said nothing more for the rest of the trip.

Worlds away, away from the prying eyes of Soul Society, a man named Sosuke Aizen wa sitting at his throne in his palace, Las Noches, which was located in Hueco Mundo, the land of Hollows. Hollows were souls that have not passed onto the Soul Society for various reasons, the hatred they felt have overwhelmed them and turned them into monsters of every conceivable shape and size. They eat souls who also have not passed but who hate has not eaten their hearts, they are the sworn enemies of Soul Reapers.

Aizen was a former Soul Reaper whose lust for power has driven him into hiding and seeking out powerful hollows to aid him destroying Soul Society. He came to Hueco Mundo to do just that. And now he was listening to one of his followers give what they have witnessed.

"I see, so the three Kurosakis have left for Seireitei, leaving the last one, Yuzu you say, alone in the house," said Aizen

"Yes my lord."

Aizen dismissed him. Now alone in the throne room, he sat there pondering his next move, he thought about the earlier news, and then an idea struck him.

"Gin, come to the throne room immediately, I have a mission for you,"

Ichimaru Gin, one of Aizen's right hand men, arrived a few seconds later, his ever smiling face, whose mystery to why it is always smiling never solved, present.

"My, this is sudden, so what's the big celebration?"

"You are to go to the living world, specifically to Karakura town. Find a girl named Kurosaki Yuzu, bring her soul to me. From what I can ascertain from the spy she has light brown hair and is living in the Kurosaki household," said Aizen.

"One of the ryoka's family eh? What's the big plan involving her? Hostage?"

'Partly, you see, she is currently alone in the house, as such it is the perfect time to capture the girl. Her spiritual pressure should be at a level above that of a normal human, if Kurosaki Ichigo is to be any basis. I plan to use her for a new experiment of mine."

Gin made a fake gasp of surprise.

"I never thought you could be so cruel that you would use little girls in your experiments. Alright, I'll get the little girl, Yuzu, just let me finish this marathon of Don Kanonji I am watching."

Aizen raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage to get a…television was it, here?"

"One of your followers brought it, who knew we could get signal here. As to how it's running…no clue."

"Ahh of course, then finish quickly, I want the girl here as soon as possible."

It has been three days since Karin, Ichigo and Isshin left, and Yuzu has adjusted well enough. At the very least she would have to cook only for herself and have the entire house to herself. The down side is that the usual racket and noise that defined a Kurosaki morning is missing, and she felt lost without it.

Making sure everything is where they should be, and that she brought her school materials with her, she locked the house and started for school.

She was on the last street before school when she was dragged into one an alley. Looking around for her attacker, she saw no one save for something shimmering in front of her.

_A ghost? Why is he attacking me?_, thought Yuzu. Just as she was thinking this, she felt being stabbed in the head, and she fell down onto the alley. The first thing she noticed this time was that she can now clearly see her assailant, a smiling man with white hair and closed eyes. _How is he smiling like that?_, she thought.

The next thing she noticed gave her a shock. Her body was lying next to her, and there was a chain near it. She followed the chain, and her eyes widened as she realized that the chain was connected to her chest. She looked back at her attacker, her eyes welling with tears.

"Mister, why are you attacking me, how come I can see myself, and why is there a chain attached to my chest?"

The smiling man simply smiled wider.

"My friend has some use for you, I pushed your soul out of your body, and that is the chain of fate, which connects you to your body, which I am about to cut."

And with that, he drew a sword and deftly sliced through the chain, effectively severing the connection between Yuzu and her body.

"Congratulations, you are officially dead," said the man.

Upon hearing this, Yuzu started crying. The man knelt down to her and asked, still smiling.

"Why are you crying?"

Yuzu looked at him as if scandalized.

"You just cut my chain of fate, and now I can't se my family again!"

The man seemed taken aback, and replied by a sharp blow to the head, rendering Yuzu unconscious.

"Don't' worry," he said, "you'll see them again, you just won't recognize them."

And with that, he opened a kind of portal and left the area.

At the Urahara shop, Urahara Kisuke felt a shiver down his spine.

"I could have sworn I forgot something," he though aloud, then brought out a fan, 'well if it's important, I'll remember it again."

His forgetfulness will cause a chain of events that change the very history of Soul Society and Hueco Mundo.

**Author's note**: Finally done! Before I post anything else, I want to know you feedbacks and criticisms, if this is good enough to continue. If not, I'll remove it and edit. This story was inspired when I first read DaRkZeRoGal's 'Afraid of falling in love with you', to those who are into romance and a 'Yuzu becomes Soul Reaper' stories, then this is for you. Then I imagined what would happen if Yuzu got Hollowfied, and this is the result. I hope you like it, and tell me if you have any suggestions or rooms for improvement, I will really appreciate it.

Please read and review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, it is owned by its respective owner.**

**Chapter 2: Transformation**

Gin arrived in Las Noches, in his arm a little girl with a broken chain dangling from her chest. He went immediately to the throne room, where Aizen was waiting; he was joined by eleven other figures, all sitting around a table.

"Here's the girl," said Gin, smiling as always. Aizen only nodded.

"Good, and what did you do to the body?"

A comical silence followed, while Gin broke a sweat.

"Oh my, I forgot about that, I'll be right back," said Gin as he left the room. All the others that remained placed their hands in their faces and sighed.

"Lord Aizen, what do you wish to do with the girl?" asked a pink-haired bespectacled man.

"I'm glad you asked Szayel, for you see, this girl is the younger sister of Ichigo Kurosaki."

The other figures that were not listening before perked up in interest. Aizen had told them about how he faced Ichigo back on soul Society.

"Is she now? Then I suppose you want to awaken her Soul Reaper powers and brainwash her to join us?" asked Szayel.

"Good guess, but no. I have recently developed a special compound that would immediately have a hollow ascend to the level of an Adjuchas, skipping the Gillian form. The ten were now giving Aizen a look of surprise and curiosity.

Aizen took put a small black ball.

"This little ball, when fed to a Hollow, has the power to completely skip the form of a Gillian, and proceed to the next level of Hollow evolution.

Everyone was impressed, everyone except one that is. A blue-haired man with something that looked like a fragment of a mask made of bone on his jaw snorted.

"Sounds to me like you simply took a bunch of Gillians and pressed them together into that."

Nobody spoke for a moment, until Aizen cleared his throat.

"This meeting is now over. I must wait for the girl to transform into a Hollow."

It was obvious to everyone he just wanted to avoid the awkward follow-up questions from the blue-haired man, who spoke up not too long after leaving the throne room.

"Hey Szayel, I hear you're working on something new, what's it about?"

"Shut it Grimmjow, that was supposed to be a secret. If you must know it's an explosive liquid compound I developed that would explode on contact. This would give us a useful trap with which to surprise those Soul Reapers."

"Right, thanks for letting me know."

"You're welco- hey!"

On an unspecified room, Aizen had hung Yuzu onto chains with her arms raise horizontally, her unconscious form sleeping soundly.

Aizen watched her uninterestedly. _In time, 'I will be able to try my new creation,_' he thought.

He went back to the throne room, where Gin was waiting for him.

"I took care of the body, and I even managed to convince everyone that nothing is wrong."

"And how did you manage to convince them?"

"With a stick and a ball of course."

Back at Karakura town, Urahara can't help but wonder at the sight of a man who looked suspiciously like Gin, waving a baseball bat and a basketball, assuring everyone that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Still, he can't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something….

Back to Las Noches.

Deciding not to ask how he managed to persuade the entire town that Yuzu was not kidnapped, Aizen looked at Gin.

"I want you to watch the girl, inform me if she is beginning to transform, she is located near the dungeons."

"Of course," replied Gin as he left the throne room and towards the dungeons.

When he arrived at the dungeons, Gin could not help but feel pity at the sight of a young girl, bound by chains, hanging from the walls. But he did not do anything about it. Instead he simply cut the chain of fate even shorter.

"My, my, Aizen can be so cruel," he remarked, watching Yuzu while sitting on a chair and sipping tea.

It would be two days before anything significant happened, and that something significant would be Yuzu's transformation.

As Yuzu woke up and the chain of fate began to corrode at a rapid rate, Gin looked up from his chair, and called out.

"Aizen, it's starting."

In a flash, Aizen was beside him, followed by a horde of other figures, Grimmjow and Szayel included.

The large number of spectators startled Gin.

"Missed something didn't I?"

Everyone ignored his comment and stared at Aizen, who walked in front of the now awake girl.

Yuzu awoke to the sensation of intense pain, like her entire body is being burned with white hot fire. She can feel the chains of fate disintegrating, and a hole opening up in her chest. It was unbearable, the pain is increasing with every second, and the hole growing bigger with it. She cried for it to stop, for everything to end, to just let her die now. And, for one second, her wishes seemed to come true, for the pain stopped.

Only to be renewed again as her body begins to distort and a mask starts to form in her face. Her screams can be heard throughout Las Noches, and even to the surrounding area.

In Soul Society, Karin suddenly felt a multitude of emotions. She felt pain, sadness, fury, and, most of all, guilt. The wave of emotions struck her so violently that she completely stooped whatever she was doing, and breaking a plate in the process.

"Geez Karin, could you be more careful next time?' said Ichigo.

Karin snapped out of her stupor. "Y-yeah."

"Right, what happened back there, you totally froze up?"

It took a while before Karin could answer, as she tried to gather her shattered feelings.

"I- don't know, it's just like being angry, sad, hurt and guilty all at the same time."

Ichigo looked concerned. This was the first time Karin felt like this; usually she would be in a bad mood over his and his father's antics.

"Well, if the same thing happens again, talk to me," he said, before returning to his meal.

Karin only distractedly nodded, her heart was filled with dread.

'_Yuzu, I hope you're okay back there_,' she thought, going back to her food.

Back at Las Noches, the transformation is complete. What was once Yuzu Kurosaki is now a creature with a lime green body, her arms and feet were little more than limbs that tapered off into a sharp point. Her mask was bone white, with the eyes set far away from each other. A row of teeth draw a line three-fourths the way down. Finishing off the oddness were a set of four tentacles that extend from her back. The tentacles were colored a deep purple, with the edges a lighter shade than the rest of the tendrils. Like her limbs, the tentacles taper down into a point. She also grew ten feet.

Aizen marveled at Yuzu's new form.

"Interesting, never seen one like her before," he said, before taking out the small black ball that was the cause of all of Yuzu's suffering.

While all of this was going on, at the back of the group, Szayel was arguing with Grimmjow.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because even the slightest touch can cause devastation unheard of here in Las Noches."

"Awww, but that's what makes it fun!"

"I said no, this new compound is too unstable to be handled by the likes of you!"

"But you're letting Ulquiorra handle it."

"That's because he's sensible enough not to directly touch the substance, unlike you, who would dip your hands into it at the first possible opportunity."

"You mean like what Yammy's doing now?"

"Yes, like what Yammy's….wait what?"

Szayel turned to face the giant Espada, who was currently poking at the large tank Szayel brought with him. Both he and Grimmjow looked on, in interest for Grimmjow, in horro for Szayel.

"Hey Ulquiorra, can I touch it?"

When the latter did not respond, Yammy shrugged and proceeded to plunge his hands into the tank.

The resulting explosion nearly tore apart Las Noches, the room where nearly everyone was occupying was completely destroyed, and the rest of the fortress barely stood up to the blast. When the dust was clear, nearly all who were in the room were on the floor, knocked out, stunned, or getting back up.

Nearly all because Yuzu was nowhere to be found, nor is the ball that Aizen had worked so hard on. The incident had ruined Aizen's palace and disrupted and delayed his experiment indefinitely.

A few moments later, Grimmjow and Szayel were being stared down by Aizen. If looks could kill, then Szayel and Grimmjow would have been dead a thousand times over.

"Grimmjow, Szayel, could you two please come to the throne room shortly?" Aizen asked calmly.

Yet everyone present do NOT want to be the two unfortunate Espada at that moment. They knew the former Soul Reaper was barely suppressing his anger at the two of them for damaging his fortress and ruining his experiment.

As Grimmjow and Szayel were being grilled by an angry Aizen, Yuzu was beginning to stir. The explosion had thrown her far away from Las Noches, far enough that her spiritual pressure has not been detected.

As she starts into a sitting position, a huge hollow lands in front of her. The monster somewhat resembles a bat, except it has a mask of bone.

Yuzu gazed upon the hollow, when an overpowering hunger consumes her. She gave in to her instincts and charged up to the beast, tearing one of its legs. She ravenously ate the severed limb, and proceeded to do the same to the rest of the poor creature's body. She ate voraciously, uncaring who might be staring, or listening. Each bite had a sickening crunch, each gulp heard for everyone to hear.

When nothing of the hollow was left, only then that Yuzu looked up, and what she saw excited her.

A mass feeding frenzy, with hollows of every imaginable shape and size consuming, eating, tearing each other apart. And she was in the very center of the action.

Grinning savagely, Yuzu raced up to the nearest hollow from her, and joined the fray.

Eventually the hundreds upon hundreds of hollows all began to gravitate toward one another, and soon they were being compressed into a mass. Not long after that the black blob began to form hands, feet, and later a mask, which had a long nose.

A Gillian was born.

**Author's note: **Ahhh, finally it's done. The lack of reviews is disappointing, but I would like to thank the two authors who favorited this and put it on their story alerts list. I promise I will find your names and put it on the next chapter.

For those of you who are waiting for the next chapter of The Vampire Trainer, I'm afraid it's going to be released something in the middle of October, when the Semestral break comes in. It's my flagship story and the quality of the chapter must be maintained, so I spend more time researching and drawing up a rough plot.

Now for this story….please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

**Chapter 3: Promotion**

The Gillian was lumbering about. With no dominant personality, the mindless beast can only act upon instinct, and so was left wandering Hueco Mundo for the time being.

Meanwhile, inside the Gillian….

'_Nothing, I feel nothing. Where…am I?_' thought one particular hollow.

'_I remember….school…..man…smiling….chain of fate…..hollow'_, she thought.

'_Yes, that's it….I am….. a hollow…black ball…another man…..explosion.'_

'_Blown away….another….hollow….eat…..lots…of hollows…eating…..pulled together,'_ her fragmented thoughts stopped as realization hit her.

'_I am….inside….a hollow.'_ her will to live extinguished, she resigned to her fate.

'_Then….nothing…I can do.'_

She stopped thinking, stopped trying to remember her past, and stopped trying to become her.

That's when her mind showed her a memory.

"_Come on Yuzu! We're gonna be late for class!" called a girl with shoulder length-black hair she was wearing a sports outfit._

Yuzu snapped to attention_._ She tried to recall the name of the girl when another memory was shown before her.

"_Yuzu my child! Look how much you've grown! And you have already become such an expert in cooking! Ahhh I'm glad to be your father!" said a man with a shaggy beard, a lab coat, and a joyous personality._

Yuzu's mind was working on overdrive. She desperately tried to remember the names of the two figures.

'_Karin-chan, otou-san…..'_

She cried. She wanted to meet them again. Then she was shown one last memory.

"_Wow, Yuzu this is delicious! Even mom would be proud! Can you show me how to make these?" asked a tall boy with blond hair, he was smiling at her, and it made her feel proud of herself._

' _Okaa-san….Ichi…nii..'_ thought Yuzu, her emotional dam on the verge of overflowing.

And it broke, all the sadness, anger, and frustration Yuzu has bottled up was released. She cried and cried. She wants to go home, she wants to see her family again, she wants to be with them for the rest of her life.

When she finally stopped crying, her mid has made up, she will see her family again.

She closed her eyes, and concentrated within her, bringing up her consciousness upon the hollow

Nothing happened. She tried again. Forcing her will into the creature that consumed her, letting it know who the dominant entity was.

Still, nothing happened. Sighing in defeat, Yuzu opened her eyes. What greeted her was a sight to behold.

It was an enormous desert. The expanse of white sand was so vast that all Yuzu could see was the desert and a few hollows scattered here and there. She looked down, and gasped.

Her entire body was black, with only the white shoes to break the monotony. Then she realized that she was taller than before a lot taller. When she had finally gotten over her surprise at her sudden growth spurt, she used her newfound height to scan her surroundings.

There was a hollow directly below her.

'_It must have been attracted to my power,'_ she thought. Once again, hunger consumed her. She let the hollow, a monster that had a striking resemblance to a hippo, come closer.

When the hollow came close enough, Yuzu grabbed the poor creature. The hollow struggled vainly, trying to escape the large hand that held it. It's desperate fight to survive ended moments later, when Yuzu ate it whole, the sound of the bite heard for miles around. She licked her lips, and looked around again.

Over in the distance were objects that looked like trees, only that they seem to be made of rock. Yuzu looked at the strange rock formations for a while, before finally setting her sights for it.

A few hours later, she made it to her destination. It looked like a forest had literally shot itself out of the sand, except said forest seem to be made of some kind of rock. Yuzu looked on in fascination at the wonder of nature, wishing her family were here to see it. She also hollow darting in and out of the forest, and sometimes even from below the sand. Yuzu continued to stare at what she saw, for a moment becoming a thirteen year old girl once more. That's when trouble started.

Something inside her was pulling at her consciousness, dragging it back down towards the depths of the Gillian. Yuzu can feel her dominance over her body fading. Horrified, she looked left and right frantically, and finally seeing a hollow, which looked like a pig than anything else, staring up at her, as if waiting for her to die. She lunged for the hollow, and only narrowly caught it as it tried to avoid her attack. With little time left, and an even smaller amount of her control remaining, she opened her mouth and ate the poor victim of circumstance.

Almost instantly, she can feel her control returning. Frightened and tired from her ordeal, Yuzu knelt on one knee, and contemplated over what she had learned.

'_I guess I need to eat more hollows to maintain my power,'_ she thought. Then she grinned savagely beneath her mask. _'Then it looks like I'll have to start eating then.'_

And it looked like she came to the right place, for the 'forest' that she had stumbled upon was directly above an even larger forest, one where many of Hueco Mundo's hollows reside. Occasionally these hollow would surface to try their luck. Though fewer in number compared to the forest below, the hollows on the surface of the forest still commands a considerable amount.

Yuzu got up, towering over the landscape. If one can see her eyes, one would see a girl, left alone in a harsh world, that's determined to survive. But underneath that resolve, lies a darker personality, that of a hunter stalking its prey.

She walked about menacingly, trying to draw hollows out of hiding. Three came out, lured to Yuzu's spiritual pressure like insects to a bug zapper. Minutes later, Yuzu was biting down on the head on the third hollow, savoring every mouthful.

Unknown to young Gillian, with every hollow that she eats, the more powerful she gets, and the more hollows that will be attracted to her, and the easier it becomes to maintain dominance. Yuzu swallowed the last pieces of the hollow, and once again looked around. Before her were hundreds of eyes staring at her, all drawn to the power that she emits. She sighed to herself.

'_This is going to be a long day.'_

On Soul Society, a Soul Reaper named Retsu Unohana has just been summoned to the office of the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. The Gotei 13 was the armed forces of Soul Society, tasked with keeping the peace within and around Seireitei, the area where the Soul Reapers live, and Rukongai, where the ordinary souls live. They are also sent to the living world to help wandering soul move on to Soul Society, and to make sure those souls do not turn into hollows.

The Gotei 13 is made up of thirteen divisions, each unique, and each headed by a captain, who is the most powerful person in the division. Unohana was the captain of the fourth division, which specializes in medical operations. She had been a captain for over six hundred years, and is considered to be one of the most powerful captains in Soul Society, equalled or surpassed only by Yamamoto, the eighth division captain Shunsui Kyōraku, and thirteenth division captain Jushirō Ukitake, both of whom had been captains at around the same time as her, give or take a few years.

Opening the doors to Yamamoto's office, Unohana can't help but wonder why she had been called for.

"You wish to see me Captain?" she asked.

"Yes. You see Unohana, I have an urgent matter to discuss with you," replied the Captain-Commander.

Her interest piqued, Unohana entered Yamamoto's office.

"Can I get you some tea?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yes, that would be nice, thank you."

Yamamoto got up from his seat and took out a tea set he had prepared beforehand. He took a cup for himself and gave another to Unohana.

"Have a seat, I feel what I tell you may leave you weak at the knees," said Yamamoto, sitting on a chair near Unohana.

When Unohana heard this, she dreaded what would happen. She reluctantly took a seat beside Yamamoto.

'_What did I do wrong, did something happen that's my fault?'_

Seeing the look on her face, Yamamoto laughed softly.

"At ease Captain Unohana, you have done nothing wrong, rather, I have some interesting news," he said, pausing for dramatic effect, which worked, for Unohana was hanging on to his every word.

Yamamoto chuckled to himself upon seeing Unohana's expression.

"Retsu Unohana, captain of the fourth division of the Gotei 13, you have been promoted to the Royal Guard."

Unohana was left speechless. Her? Promoted to the Royal Guard? THE Royal Guard? The elite group of captains who protected the ruler of Soul Society? It was absurd. True enough, her body was left unable to move.

Yamamoto expected this.

"I understand your surprise; indeed, I have seen more extreme reactions to that news. But enough of that, Captain Unohana, do you accept the promotion?"

Unohana cannot move. She was being promoted to the Royal Guard, the dream of Soul Reapers everywhere and the pinnacle of what can be achieved as a Soul Reaper. But doing so would cut her off from the rest of Soul Society, effectively severing all ties with Kyoraku and Ukitake. She hung her head. She did not want to part with her comrades in Soul Society.

Yamamoto also expected this.

"While usually when one is promoted to the Royal Guard, he would have to cut all ties to Soul Society, the Spirit King has made an exception. You see Unohana, with Aizen's defection, the Royal Guard finally wanted to keep themselves updated on what is happening on Seireitei. As such, their Commander has requested that a Soul Reaper be made the spokesperson of the Royal Guard here in the Gotei 13. You will be able to stay here for a week every year, to do your duties as the spokesperson as well as take a trip down memory lane," said Yamamoto.

Unohana perked up. She would be able to see her friends after all. She smiled happily.

"I understand. I accept the promotion," said Unohana.

Yamamoto smiled behind his beard. "Very well, Retsu Unohana, captain of the fourth division of the Gotei 13, do hereby accept the promotion offered by the Royal Guard. In addition, by the tradition of the Royal Guard, you will be allowed up to three years to train your lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu, to take over the division."

Unohana nodded. She was given only three years to ease Isane into the position of captain.

Yamamoto looked at Unohana. "You understand that you would also have groom your third seat, Yasochika Iemura."

Unohana shook her head. "Iemura's performance has so far been satisfactory as a third seat, but I feel that the additional pressure from being promoted would be too much for him."

"I see, then you must also find a candidate suitable for the position of lieutenant. I suggest you start looking now. You are dismissed," said Yamamoto, both he and Unohana standing up from their seats. Unohana bowed to Yamamoto, and then exited the office.

Unohana had just passed the third division barracks when a black blur nearly collided into her. Only years of training allowed her to dodge the incoming missile, which slowed down to the form of a boy with blue eyes that seem to be half-asleep, with medium length black hair. He was wearing a black kimono that was the uniform of Soul Reapers. The boy stopped completely and walked towards Unohana.

"I'm so sorry Captain, I didn't see you when I was running with my squad to the second division," said the boy, who was now bowing again and again in front of Unohana.

"At ease Yamada-kun. Why were you and your squad going to Soi Fon's division? That being said, where is your squad?" asked Unohana.

Her last question was answered a second later, when a group of Soul Reapers ran past the both of them. They promptly stopped abruptly and proceeded to fall into the ground in a heap.

"Um, we were assigned cleaning duty on the second division barracks, Captain," said Yamada, who was now helping his squad members onto their feet.

With the squad member now on their feet, the group once again began running for the second division barracks. One by one, they greeted Yamada and Unohana, before running towards said barracks.

Yamada was helping the last one onto her feet when Unohana spoke.

"That was an impressive display of speed you and your squad have just done Hanatarō-kun, how long have you been assigned on cleaning duty?" she asked.

Hanatarō and his squad member rubbed their heads, embarrassed at the compliment.

"Um, just over fifty years Captain, though me and Kamiya-san here have been on cleaning duty longer than that," said Hanatarō. The squad member, Kamiya, blushed and nodded.

Unohana raised an eyebrow, _'such dedication to their work,'_ she thought.

Kamiya, who had been silent the whole time, finally made herself known.

"Hanatarō-senpai, we need to get going. I don't think Captain Soi Fon would be too happy when you are late," she said.

"Alright Hikari-chan. Captain Unohana, we will be going now," said Hanatarō, bowing before Unohana once more. Hikari did the same.

Unohana smiled and nodded. She watched as Hanatarō and Hikari took off into the second division barracks. She stood there for a few minutes as she took in what had just happened. Then she smiled softly.

'_Looks like I've just found my lieutenant,'_ thought Unohana, as she walked off to find Isane.

3 months later….in Hueco Mundo.

Another hollow had been consumed, and Yuzu had just captured another. Three months after becoming a Gillian, Yuzu's power had risen significantly. The forest of rocks had been the perfect place for her, with numerous hollows to consume, and the trees provide a safe place to rest when she is tired.

She was now being attacked by hollows almost constantly, and even had another Gillian, the mindless variety, come towards her just three months after becoming a Gillian herself. Imagine her shock when the Gillian's mouth suddenly turned red, and fired a red energy beam moment later. Yuzu barely avoided the attack, and only managed to grab onto the the Gillian's jaw before it could fire another energy beam again. She bit off the head of the giant hollow, and ate the rest, leaving the head for last. Since then, she had been thinking of how to fire the red beam.

The breakthrough came just a few weeks after the Gillian incident. Yuzu had just bitten onto the head of another hollow, when she noticed energy collecting in her mouth. She had been mulling over how to fire the energy beam, a cero, as it was called by one of the hollows that saw the incident. After she had consumed her victim, Yuzu tried to get the energy to gather in her mouth.

It was hard work, no matter how hard she tried, very little energy would be collected. She sighed in defeat, and took a break from her practice by again going hollow hunting. As she was about to bite an unfortunate hollow, one that looked like a pink lion that reminded her of the one back home, she became aware of energy gathering in her mouth. Amazed at the discovery, she quickly devoured the poor corrupted soul and left to practice what she had seen.

'_So, if I imagine that I am eating something, maybe it will work?'_ she thought.

She tried to again collect energy into her mouth, but this time she also imagined that she was eating a delicious chocolate cake. The results were astounding. The energy that she amassed was enough to be seen for miles around. Yuzu, surprised at her success, forgot to fire the energy, which had dissipated moments after being collected. Unfazed by this setback, she tried again, this time forming a smaller, more controllable ball of energy.

'_Now, how do I fire this?'_

As she was pondered how to turn the ball into a beam, she breathed out, and the ball of red energy that had been condensing in her mouth was suddenly released in a powerful beam that struck one of the trees. The tree shattered, and all the hollows living in it ran for their lives to avoid being crushed by the heavy debris.

Yuzu stared at the commotion. _'So that's how you fire it.'_

3 more months later…..

Yet another hollow fell before Yuzu's jaws. It had been another three months since she had successfully fired a cero. Unfortunately, after that incident, life had gone back to the monotony of eating for survival. To say that Yuzu was bored was an understatement.

'_I just wish something special would happen,' _thought Yuzu. She got her wish.

As soon as the last hollow was swallowed, Yuzu began to feel strange. Her body felt warm, the next moment it exploded. Oddly enough, she felt no pain.

Many of the hollows in the area gathered to watch as a Gillian's body burst and began reforming itself. The mask too, was renovated, with the eyes set far apart from each other and a row of teeth three-quarters the way down.

When the transformation was complete, Yuzu greatly resembled her old body before she was a Gillian, a lime green humanoid creature with a hole in the chest. But now she had a complete set of limbs, hands, and feet, as opposed to before where they were nothing but arms and legs with pointy ends. The tentacles too, were present, and also colored a deep purple, with the tips a lighter shade compared to the rest of the tendrils.

Yuzu opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was that the hollows seem much larger than before. Then she looked upon herself, and gasped. She had transformed.

She looked at her hands, which looked like ordinary human hands, and moved her fingers. She felt her toes, the sand beneath her feet. Then she noticed the tentacles on her back. She grabbed one of them, and examined it. She moved the other appendages, shaky and unresponsive at first, but eventually she was manipulating them almost as easily as if they were there the whole time.

The other hollows, who were watching this whole time, were suffocating from the immense power that Yuzu was emitting. The few that did manage to resist, however, tried to come closer, to try and take the power for themselves. And those few that did stepped forward, found themselves impaled by a tentacle or two.

Yuzu looked on in amazement as she gave her newfound extensions a test run. She found out that the tentacles can extend beyond its original length, and can pierce through the tough hollow masks. The hollows that came closer to her were testament to that. She then took notice of the other hollows that were on the ground, as if gasping for air. She walked over to one of them, and stepped back in surprise as the hollow began to struggle harder, and harder, until finally it made one final intake of air and died.

Yuzu stared at the corpse. Up until that moment, she had never known that her power was the reason why hollows were attracted to her. And now, because one of them dies just by being near her.

Resolving to try and get the excess power under control, Yuzu devoured all the hollows around her, before walking to another part of the forest, this time as an Adjuchas level hollow.

**Author's note**: I guess I have to do another disclaimer.

**Disclaimer number two**: I do not own the character Hikari Yagami/Kari Kamiya. She is owned by the owners of Digimon.

**Author's note number two**: I never intended this to be this long. Guess I got carried away. And now I introduce a side story for my other favorite character, The Rise of Hanatarō Yamada. I decided for him to be a lieutenant because I believe the seventh seat still has a very, very long way to go before becoming a captain. And I also want his ascension to be believable. I found too many fics that would either feature Hanatarō as weak or too powerful. Hope you like it.

I put Kari in here because I am too lazy to think up of original names. You will also find other characters from other series in here. They will have no connections with the original series; I am only using their names, personalities, and appearance.

Finally, I hope I did not make Yuzu too powerful too soon.

I don't think I'll be putting up a pairing to Yuzu, though Hanatarō is open for discussion; put your suggestions on the reviews, **but no slash/yaoi pairings**. Those will be ignored, I am not a fan of such pairings unfortunately.

Please read and review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All elements featured in this story are not my own. They are owned by their respective owners.**

**Chapter 4: Evolution**

-Six months later-

Another hollow had fallen victim to Yuzu's hands, her tentacles preventing the creature from escaping. The hollow struggled against her might, only to quiet down moments later, when Yuzu devoured it.

When the hollow was consumed completely, Yuzu contemplated on what had happened the past year. She had met a strange smiling man who cut her chain of fate, which turned her into a hollow, then somehow managed to get herself into the middle of a hollow feeding frenzy, which got turned into a Gillian, where she became the dominant personality, then finally eating nearly a thousand hollows to become what she was now.

Yes, it has been one crazy journey.

Her musings were cut short, however, when she felt an extremely powerful spiritual pressure on her left. She turned to direction of the pressure, and walked closer to it, the pressure getting more powerful as she got closer. She found the source a few moments later, and found a rather small hollow, only slightly bigger than her, eating what seemed to be a much larger one. It had swallowed the last bit of its prey when she arrived. The smaller hollow turned to her; it resembled a large crab, with thick armor on its back and sides, four spider-like legs, and pincers for hands. Even its mask was crab-like.

After a few minutes of staring at each other, the hollow finally spoke.

"Well, who knew there would be another Adjuchas around here," it said, its voice indicating it was a male.

Yuzu only looked at him, which caused the hollow to laugh softly. He started moving towards her, which prompted Yuzu to be on the alert. His laughter got louder when he saw this.

"You know, I was starting to get bored with only killing weak hollows, hopefully you will be a challenge," he declared, before charging towards Yuzu at surprising speed. He reached out in front of him, intending to grab her neck with his pincers…

Yuzu deflected the attack, wrapping her tentacles around the massive pincers. The hollow tried to get them free, but Yuzu simply lifted him off the ground, and slammed him onto one of the trees. The tree cracked under the strain.

The hollow recovered quickly, and he and Yuzu stood there, looking at each other. He spoke once more.

"I'm impressed little hollow, not many can counter that attack without one of their parts being torn from their bodies. May I ask who am I fighting?"

Yuzu glared at him.

"I am Yuzu Kurosaki," said Yuzu.

The hollow nodded.  
>"I see. They call me Claw. It's too bad that such a talented hollow such as you encountered me. We could make a lot of stories about out adventures together. But then you had to DIE!" he roared, and fired a massive cero from both his claws.<p>

Yuzu dodged the first cero, but the second one, which came less than a second later, grazed her in the shoulder.

Claw started firing cero after cero onto Yuzu, who had to dodge every single one of them, unable to fire one of her own.

Yuzu was in a dangerous situation. Her opponent not only can fire a powerful cero, but he can fire it at a rapid rate. She can do nothing but try and dodge the incoming beams of death. She used her tentacles as an extra set of limbs, allowing her to move significantly faster than normal.

_I've got to stop him from firing those ceros,,'_ she thought desperately, one of her tentacles nearly getting hit by a cero from Claw. But as her tentacle moved away from the beam, she noticed something.

Energy was gathering on the tips of her tentacles.

She blinked when she realized this.

'_Of course! A cero is made by gathering energy and then releasing it in one burst. The mouth is not the only place where I can gather energy, but every part of my body can!'_

Her momentary loss in focus allowed Claw to score a direct his upon his prey. Yuzu was hit right in the stomach. She was flung violently into another tree, her body nearly torn apart from the attack. The tree collapsed at the sheer force of her impact, crushing everything underneath.

Claw stopped his firing. He slowly walked up to the destroyed tree, pincers alert for any sudden movement, ready to blast the next thing that moves to oblivion. He cleared the rubble, and found Yuzu in the very center of it. Her body had nearly healed from the attack, only her lower tentacles and bits of her mask were left to be repaired. The hollow was barely conscious, and was struggling to sit up.

Claw kicked her in the face. His foot and Yuzu's head making a small crater into the ground.

"Once again, I'm impressed you lasted this long against me. And for that, I'll make sure to make a story about how a hollow named Yuzu fought Claw in a glorious battle, and how she valiantly fought to the end. Sounds good don't you think? Of course, you have to die first," he said.

He pointed both of his pincers at Yuzu, ready to deliver the final blow, when he got hit by a cero from the back. The attack startled Claw, and caused his own ceros to fire sideways, missing Yuzu completely. His thick armor, however, protected him. He looked behind to see what had attacked him, and saw that two of Yuzu's tentacles, jutting from the ground, energy dissipating from them similar to when one had just fired a cero.

He laughed at what he saw.

"Nice try, but my armor protects me from attacks from behind," he chuckled, "that was a really great desperate move, now I really can't wait to make that story!"

He turned around, intent on finishing his opponent, only to be met by a tentacle to the face and to his unarmored chest. He was then pierced by Yuzu's two other tentacles, this time from below and above.

Yuzu removed the tentacles from his body, and Claw expected the hollow to move away and regroup, wherein he can find the time to regenerate. What he didn't expect was Yuzu driving her tentacles into him again, and again, and again, and again. By the time she was finished, Claw was looking less like crab and more like Swiss cheese. He fell face first onto the sand, his regeneration unable to keep up with his injuries. Yuzu stood over him, tentacles poised to strike once more. Claw shook what was left of his head.

"Looks like my story won't be written after all, such a shame, and I had a great plot in mind too!" he said, before slipping into unconsciousness.

Yuzu lowered her tentacles, though she remained alert, and kneeled over her fallen enemy. After making sure that Claw won't be waking up at any second, she bit into his head and tore it off. She ate the head, and then began consuming her foe.

Because Claw was an Adjuchas, he was much denser than other hollows she had eaten before, and his armor was incredibly tough. She took a longer time to finish eating. When she did finish, she felt power unlike any she had felt before, it radiated through her body, pulsing through her as if it was blood. Any nearby hollow, the regular variety, died immediately.

It took a moment for the power surge to subside. Yuzu stood up, and made to leave. But before she did, she did something she hasn't in a long time. She brought her hands together, and said a silent prayer to Claw. She left the area not long afterwards.

-Soul Society-

One year after Hanatarō nearly collided with Unohana on his way to the second division, and he was starting to think his captain hated him.

For one, the number of cleaning duties assigned to his squad was double the amount that they normally had before, and the areas were they were supposed to clean were always on opposite ends of Seireitei. The schedules too, were next to impossible, so much so that they had to practically sprint to their next destination in order to be on time.

It didn't help Hanatarō that whenever he wasn't on cleaning duty, he would be stationed at the hospital, looking after the patients, usually eleventh division members, and getting almost no sleep. It would be late at night when would reach his room, and immediately fall asleep on the bed without bothering to change.

Still, he noticed that he wasn't the only one Unohana was keeping busy. He often saw his lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu, walking as if she hasn't slept in days.

Today he was at Unohana's office, performing his tasks as a seated officer. Unohana was at her desk, signing paperwork and occasionally sipping tea. Then suddenly Kenpachi Zaraki, a large man who was the captain of the eleventh division, burst through the door.

Unohana and Hanatarō looked up from their desks.

"Good morning Captain Zaraki, is there anything I can do for you?" asked Unohana.

Zaraki walked towards her, his frame towering over Unohana, she look unfazed, however, and simply sipped her tea.

"Yeah you can do something for me. I'd like for someone from your division to accompany my men whenever they go on a mission. Can't have too many men out of combat, it's bad for the division," said Kenpachi.

Unohana smiled at Kenpachi.

"I never knew you cared for your members Captain."

Kenpachi glared at her. He was about to retort when Unohana cut him off.

"Alright, Hanatarō-kun?" she called.

Hanatarō looked up from his desk. "Yes captain?"

"I would like for one of your squad members to accompany the eleventh division whenever they are on a mission. This also applies to you."

Hanatarō's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at Kenpachi, who looked at him, promising certain death if he refuses. He looked back at Unohana, who was looking at him expectantly.

"Y-yes Captain," he finally said, before slouching in his chair.

"Excellent!" said Unohana, then returned her gaze to Kenpachi.

"Is there anything else you need Captain?" she asked.

Kenpachi rubbed his neck.

"No."

And headed out the door. But before he left, he turned and spoke to Unohana.

"Captain Unohana, how did you learn your zanpakuto's name?"

This startled the female captain. Unohana blinked a few times before replying.

"Oh, why do you want to know Captain?"

Kenpachi groaned.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm the only captain here that doesn't know the name of their sword. And now I want to, so are you going to tell me?"

Unohana looked thoughtful for a moment. It had been a very long time since she had known Minazuki. It would take a lot of digging through her memories to arrive at the right moment of her finally knowing her zanpakuto's name. She was still thinking of how to answer when a voice spoke up.

"Um, Captain Zaraki, have you tried emptying your thoughts when you sleep?"

Unohana and Kenpachi turned towards Hanatarō, who buckled at the sight of two captains staring at him.

Nevertheless, Unohana gave her seventh seat a kind smile.

"Go ahead."

Still nervous, and still shaking, Hanatarō continued.

"Well, when I first learned the name of Hisagomaru, I was asleep and it was like the inside of hospital. I remembered the night before that I really didn't have any particular thoughts before I went to bed," he said.

Kenpachi and Unohana continued to stare at him, which made Hanatarō very uncomfortable. He breathed a sigh of relief when they turned their gazes towards each other a few moments later.

"I suggest giving my seventh seat's idea a try captain, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to give it a chance," said Unohana.

Kenpachi rubbed his chin, then shrugged.

"Fine," he said, before leaving the office.

Unohana and Hanataro watched as eleventh division captain left the office, before Unohana turned to Hanatarō and said, "well done Yamada-kun."

Hanatarō can only rub his neck in embarrassment. "Um, thank you Captain."

She smiled at him, then adopted a more serious expression.

"I'll need you to deliver these medicines for Captain Ukitake, tell him he needs to take them three times a day. Hurry, he will need to take his first batch in only a few minutes."

Hanatarō nodded, and hurriedly left the office as well.

He slowed down a bit to turn around a corner, when he, once again, nearly collided with a captain. Unfortunately this time said captain was Soi Fon, who came to visit, berate rather, the members of her division in the hospital.

The second division leader stepped back just in time to avoid him.

"Watch where you're going!" she yelled, glaring daggers at the seventh seat.

For the second time, Hanatarō found himself bowing again and again in apology, trying very hard to hide the nervousness in his voice. Soi Fon was known as one of the strictest captains in Soul Society. As well as the one in charge of Seireitei's prison.

Fortunately for him, Soi Fon simply grunted, and went on her way.

Hanatarō watched her turn the corner, before resuming his run towards the thirteenth division, but before he could…

"Yamada."

Soi Fon called him.

Hanatarō froze in place. He slowly turned around, and saw the second division captain looking at him directly.

"Try taking smaller steps when you turn, it will give you the same amount of speed without losing control," she said.

It took a few seconds before Hanatarō realized he wasn't going to be punished, and ended up nodding vigorously.

"Y-yes Captain."

Soi Fon only stared at him, before continuing on her way once more.

Hanatarō stood there, before he remembered what he was supposed to do, and went to the thirteenth division.

-later that night-

Kenpachi sat on his bed, trying to calm his mind before he slept. It wasn't easy; his head was always filled with a great many things, fighting among them.

He looked out the window, gazing into the Seireitei during nighttime. No matter what anyone says, looking out his window during the night always calmed him down.

It took him at least a full hour of staring outside before he thought his mind was empty enough, and went to bed.

-dream sequence-

He found himself in a barren, rocky desert. For miles, there was nothing but dirt in nearly all directions, there wasn't even a single flower to break the monotony. But as he turned around, he saw a large anchor, nearly ten times as big as himself, placed some distance away from him. Beside it stood a woman, wearing an orange pirate's outfit, complete with hat, boots, and skull and crossbones. [A/N: I modeled her after May from Guilty Gear, which I do not own]. She was looking at him.

Kenpachi moved closer to the anchor, and the woman waved at him.

He growled. "Are you supposed to be my zanpakuto?"

The woman smiled, and nodded cheerfully. "I sure am."

"Good, so tell me your name."

"I can't do that."

Kenpachi frowned.

"And why is that?"

"You know it already."

"How can I know it when I haven't even met you!"

"This place is my name."

Kenpachi narrowed his eyes.

"This place is your name?"

The woman nodded, smiling all the while.

"Of course, silly! I'm your zanpakuto, and therefore this is your soul. You just have to look around to know my name!"

Kenpachi shook his head, he can't believe that his zanpakuto would be this jovial; she was just like his lieutenant, Yachiru. Nevertheless, he looked around, looking for signs of the woman's name. Yet no matter how hard he looked, he always found himself drawn to the anchor. He gazed at it for a long time, occasionally looking in another direction but always returning to the anchor. He rubbed his chin.

'_An anchor…'_ he thought. Then it hit him.

"Ikari."

The woman, who was sitting on the anchor and looking at her feet, perked up.

"What was that?"

"Ikari," said Kenpachi, "that is your name."

The woman smiled at him, even more than before.

"That's right!"

Kenpachi himself also grinned, but before anything romantic between the two can start, the dream ends.

-the next day-

Everyone in Soul Society felt an explosion of spiritual pressure coming from the eleventh division. And every single person not on duty scrambled to see what had caused the commotion.

They saw Kenpachi Zaraki, holding his sword out above him, looking as if ready to summon his zanpakuto.

All present held their breath, awaiting the moment of truth…

And Kenpachi spoke.

"Pull me closer, Ikari."

The spiritual pressure, already at dangerously high levels, soared.

All soul reapers that were not seated officers immediately fainted, while those who were had difficulty staying awake. The pressure from the eleventh division captain was nearly too much to bear.

But for those who were able to withstand the pressure, they saw Kenpachi and his new zanpakuto.

His sword looked different too. No longer was its appearance worn and aged, instead it looked like it was newly forged and sharpened. Just above the hilt of the sword was the engraved image of an anchor.

The others could only watch as Kenpachi's grin became bigger, and his sword was held vertically…

And instantly everything was pulled towards him. People, furniture, and even small objects slowly moved closer to Kenpachi.

Everyone that's not a captain tried to get away, but found that they couldn't resist the force pulling them closer. The captains were powerful enough to have withstood the pull.

Luckily for those who got pulled in, Kenpachi put his sword down. He placed his sword on his side, smirked like he always did, and walked off. Nobody that's not a captain tried to stop him, too stunned at what had happened to even speak. The captains simply let him be.

-later that day-

The talk of the day was Kenpachi Zaraki's zanpakuto release. Rumors flew as to how he was able to find out his zanpakuto. Theories ranged from likely to absurd, such as dolls that were used to speed up the learning of bankai (Ichigo's claim), to a great dragon that descended down into Kenpachi to bestow him the gift of his zanpakuto (Rangiku Matsumoto's claim), to his sword being stolen twelfth division technology (Mayuri Kurotsuchi's claim). Of course, only three people know what really happened.

Bankai is the second, more powerful release of a zanpakuto, it is one of the requirements for becoming a captain. Rangiku Matsumoto is the tenth division lieutenant. Mayuri Kurotsuchi is the captain of the twelfth division.

Unohana and Hanatarō were once again in the office, taking care of business, when their visitor from yesterday appeared before them. Both fourth division members looked up from their desks.

The door burst open, and Kenpachi walked inside. This time, however, he stopped in front of Hanatarō.

The soul reaper cowered before him, and looked at Unohana for help. His captain, to his horror, smiled at him, and, more to his horror, nodded to Kenpachi to continue what he was doing.

Though Hanatarō had heard, and felt, the eleventh division captain's zanpakuto release, it still unnerved him.

What's more, Kenpachi grinned at him, making his nervousness grow tenfold. This grew even more when the captain opened his mouth…

"Thanks."

Hanatarō, who was expecting a severe beating, was startled.

"Huh?"

Kenpachi was still grinning.

"You heard what I said, I said 'thank you'."

Hanataro looked up, the man was grinning at him.

"Um, your welcome?"

Kenpachi laughed.

"That advice you gave worked, I found myself in a barren wasteland, with only a large anchor and a girl pirate for company. The girl was my zanpakuto, and the anchor bears her name, Ikari," said Kenpachi.

Unohana, who had been listening this whole time, remarked, "well done Hanatarō."

Hanatarō blushed deeply, he wasn't used to being given praise, let alone given praise by two captains. Usually people either bully him or ignore him.

Kenpachi then started a conversation with Unohana.

"Unohana, my division is having a training exercise in the human world later; give the fresh blood some experience killing hollows. I want him," he pointed at Hanatarō, "to join them."

To which Unohana replied, "of course, you will join, will you Hanatarō?"

Again both captains looked at the seventh seat, who utterly melted under their gaze.

"Y-yes Captain."

Unohana smiled happily. "Alright then, your squad will be taken from cleaning duty today. But I want you and another member of your team to accompany the eleventh division on their training exercise, understand?"

"Yes Captain."

"Good."

Kenpachi took this time to interrupt.

"Well, I ain't gonna keep you from your jobs any longer. Kid, meet me by the senkaimon in…about three hours, bring your instincts with you." The Senkaimon was the doorway that allowed soul reapers to cross over to the human world and vice versa.

And with that, the eleventh division captain left.

Hanatarō and Unohana went back to their work, Unohana signing fourth division paperwork, Hanatarō reading reports regarding cleaning duty schedules, most of which are under his squad.

After a few minutes, Hanatarō spoke up.

"Captain Unohana, what did Captain Zaraki mean by bringing my instincts with me?"

Unohana looked up from her seat.

"He means you bring with you your inner desire to survive. He's right too, no matter how much training you do, if you don't want to live, it's meaningless."

Unohana then adopted a thoughtful look, peering just above Hanatarō. She snapped out of it a moment later though.

"You best prepare youself," she said to the seventh seat, "I'll have Lieutenant Kotetsu take over your post at the hospital."

Hanatarō nodded. He stood up, gave a bow to Unohana, then left to pprepare his materials.

-later-

"Alright guys and girls," said Kenpachi," you all know why you're here so I won't give you any pep talks. The 'go to' person for this mission is your twentieth seat, Koichi Shido, see that guy and the black hair, that's the one. Joining you here will be fourth division seventh seat Hanatarō Yamada and somebody he pulled from his squad. They will be in charge of first aid in case any of you fought one too many hollows."

There were about a dozen eleventh division members present, not counting Kenpachi, his lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi, the third seat Ikkaku Madarame, and the fifth seat Yumichika Ayasegawa.

Yachiru was next to speak.

"Captain Creepy told me that you will be going to some place called London; can you bring me some sweets while you're there?"

Everyone sighed. Ikkaku was the last to speak.

"If there aren't any questions, get going, we will be coming back for you in three hours, call if there is any emergencies, am I clear?"

"Yes sir!"

And with that, the party of fourteen, including Hanatarō and his squad member, went though the Senkaimon and into London.

-London-

Everyone walked out of the Senkaimon, expecting to be attacked by hollows from the get go. That didn't happen.

"Shido-senpai, where are the hollows?" asked one member.

Shido looked left and right, disappointed that there were no hollows in sight. It was his first time in the human world, and as such did not know that you have to look for hollows in order to find them.

He shook his head. "Oh dear, I don't see any hollows in sight, we can't have a training exercise with that can we?"

The others, except for the fourth division members, shook their heads.

Shido smiled, "luckily, I managed to smuggle this out of Soul Society."

He took out an object that looked like a cookie, much to the horror of Hanatarō, and promptly crumbled the cookie, which turned out to be…

-Hueco Mundo-

Yuzu was suddenly swamped by hundreds upon hundreds of hollows, all of which were going in one direction.

She turned to the place where the hollows are going, when she herself felt a desire to join them. She saw that the hollows were tearing holes into space itself and going inside. Her curiosity piqued, she tried to tear a hole herself…

Only to be met with thin air.

Pouting, she followed a hollow as it went into the hole, when a thought struck her.

'_Why do I have to do this?" _she thought.

She stopped and stared at the receding hole, which closed up ten seconds later. All around her, hollows were disappearing into the mysterious holes, with only her rooted on the ground.

"_Do I really have to go?" _she mused as she watched another hollow tear a hole and going inside it, that hole vanished not too long after.

A few minutes passed, and still she hasn't moved from the spot, still having second thoughts about whether following a hollow into the hole or not. She finally moved when a hollow shoved her out of the way, intending to open a hole in front of her. It never got the chance.

An annoyed Yuzu grabbed the hollow's head from the back, and crushed it effortlessly. She ate the remains. She took in her surroundings, there were still a lot of hollows trying to tear holes into reality.

At this, she suddenly launched her tentacles into unsuspecting hollows, impaling them and drawing them towards Yuzu, waiting to be devoured, which happened moments later.

As the last hollow that was pierced was eaten, she had made up her mind. Curious as she was about where the holes lead, this opportunity to feed is just too good to pass up.

And the number of hollows opening the holes was reduced drastically.

-London-

Hanatarō blocked another attack, bringing his sword above himself just in time to avoid being crushed by the claw of a badger-like hollow. He brought a hand in front of him, where the hollow's body was located, and said, "Hadō number one, Shō." The hollow was instantly thrown back, allowing Hanatarō to jump on top of it and slash its neck, killing it.

He leaped into another hollow, who tried to eat him, but was also repulsed by a level one destructive spell. Hanatarō then used this distraction to fire another spell, "Hadō number four, Byakurai." A bolt of lightning erupted from his finger, hitting the hollow and shocking it. As the hollow fell to the ground, its face was introduced to Hisagomaru.

Hanatarō looked around, he was surrounded by hollows. Through a small opening on one side, he can see his squad member, Kenta Kitagawa, trying to quickly administer first aid to the eleventh division members, Koichi Shido among them.

He mentally cursed himself to letting this happen. As the hollows closed in on him, he though back to how this all started.

-a few minutes earlier-

As soon as Shido crumpled the cookie, hollows of all shapes and sizes descended upon them.

At first, the eleventh division members cheered, and immediately attacked the swarm. Moments later, they were running for their lives as the number of hollows became too much for them to handle. One of them tripped, and was about to be crushed when he was rescued by Hanatarō, who had just removed Shido from the battlefield moments earlier. Hanatarō pulled him up to his feet, grabbed hold of his wrist, and proceeded to sprint back to where he and Kenta had set up a relief station.

For Hanatarō, all he did was run as fast as he could, but for the eleventh division member, it felt to him that the seventh seat was using Shunpo, or Flash Steps.

As soon as Hanatarō reached the relief station, he instructed Kenta to take care of Shido as well as the guy he had just rescued.

Kenta watched in awe of his superior officer, who was supposedly the most bullied person in Soul Society. One moment Hanatarō stood horrified at what Shido had done, the next he was giving orders to Kenta to call for help and quickly set up a relief station while he rescues the fallen eleventh division members.

Hanatarō had just returned from another rescue, holding the wrist of a soul reaper who looked like he had been hit by a powerful gust of wind.

He and Kenta looked at the battle, where soul reaper were falling left and right. Kenta watched the entire scene in horror, which grew when he saw a hollow kill another soul reaper.

Hanatarō, however, frowned. He turned to Kenta.

"Kenta, take care of those injured, give first priority to the critically wounded and second priority to those with only flesh wounds. I'm going to lead the hollows away from here."

Kenta's eyes widened. "Hanatarō-senpai, you can't do that! There are far too many hollows out there. It's suicide!"

He can only watch as Hanatarō smiled and shook his head.

"That may be so, but I still have to get them to someplace else."

He gave Kenta a pat on the shoulder, "I'm counting on you," before running into the heat of battle.

Hanatarō ran to the thick of combat. He inhaled deeply, letting out his spiritual pressure at the same time, before yelling, "hey, over here!"

As one, the hollows turned to the source of spiritual pressure, stared, and started moving towards the food.

Hanatarō braced himself, he drew Hisagomaru, and prepared to fight.

-present-

The hollows were bearing down on him, and Hanatarō closed his eyes, ready to face imminent death. But then an idea struck him. He blinked, and mentally slapped himself for not thinking of it sooner.

'_It's crazy, but it just might work,'_ he thought.

He brought his sword in front of him, and announced, "Fulfill, Hisagomaru."

His sword began to change shape, gaining a gauge on the middle of the sword. A brown sphere had manifested itself on the hilt of the sword.

The hollows took no notice of their food suddenly having a better weapon, but they did pause when the food plunged its weapon into his gut. They looked at him, confused, before some of them shrugged and continued forward, soon being joined by others.

Hanatarō winced as he thrust Hisagomaru into his stomach, where it cut him and healed it at the same time, the gauge on the sword slowly filling up. Though he was relieved when the hollows, stopped momentarily, it also occurred to him the Hisagomaru wasn't filling up fast enough. He started moving the sword forward and backward, dealing more wounds but filling the gauge faster. He panicked slightly when the hollows finally reached him, and had to lie on his back to avoid being grabbed. But when one of the hollows got hold of his leg and started pulling him towards a mass of other hollows, he thought it was over, until he felt his sword shrinking, indicating the gauge has filled.

With a sigh of relief, he took out the zanpakuto out of his gut and swung it…

Kenta anticipated the worst when the hollows had started moving towards Hanatarō, and resigned his superior officer dead when the hollows began piling on top of each other. Imagine his shock when he saw a bright red beam of light burst from the mass of hollows, and engulfed the entire pile, killing every single one. Kenta ran towards the origin of the beam, and found Hanatarō Yamada, holding up a scalpel and his stomach bleeding. He lowered the scalpel, and it and his arm plopped to the ground, exhausted. He put his other arm to his stomach, in an attempt to stem the wounds.

Kenta couldn't believe his eyes. Hanatarō-senpai was alive!

He ran faster, and immediately applied healing Kidō to the seventh seat.

Hanatarō looked at him, "did you heal all of the eleventh division members?"

"Eleventh division members? You should look at yourself!" cried Kenta, aghast.

Hanataro smiled at him, and was about to reply when he noticed a familiar spiky-haired man wearing a captain's haori, behind him was another captain with her hair tied in a braid in front of her. And behind them was a rescue team lifting up the injured onto stretchers. He lost consciousness before he can make out anymore detail.

-later, in Soul Society-

Kenpachi Zaraki was not amused.

His twentieth seat had turned what should be a simple training exercise into a bloodbath, both for hollows and soul reapers. He lost a total of four men and one woman in the incident, according to that kid that accompanied Yamada to the human world. Oh yes, as soon as Koichi Shido is out of the hospital, they are going to have a nice talk at the eleventh division dojo. His mind then wandered into the other kid, Yamada, who single-handedly destroyed all the hollows that were lured by the hollow bait.

_I should ask Unohana what the hell she taught that boy, I could definitely use it to train these weaklings,'_ he thought.

Unohana was in a good mood. When she first heard that the twentieth seat had used hollow bait on a group of fresh recruits, her first thought was to castrate the man. But when she heard how Hanatarō had destroyed all the hollows all by himself, she couldn't help but feel enormous pride, despite the fact that her seventh seat was severely injured.

Hanatarō's actions had certainly elevated the fourth division's reputation amongst the 'manly' soul reapers, and Unohana was now sure she had truly found her soon-to-be lieutenant.

She then remembered Hanatarō's advice to Kenpachi, and wondered if it will also work in Isane.

'_Let's find out,'_ she thought.

-Hueco Mundo, six months later-

Bored of seeing giant trees everywhere, Yuzu had decided to take a trek on the outskirts of the forest. What she saw made the trees look like the most interesting things in the world.

Sand. Lots of sand.

Yuzu was bore out of her wits. Day after day she did nothing but eat hollows. An occasional Gillian would attack her, but they were getting too easy by now. When she finally thought her boredom would be broken when an Adjuchas came to attack her, she was sadly mistaken. The Adjuchas was clearly one that had evolved recently, and in his sudden rise in power, thought he could take on anything. The fight didn't even last five minutes, before Yuzu ripped his head off.

She was about to return to the forest when she felt an enormous spiritual pressure in the area. She turned towards the direction of the pressure, before moving towards it, expecting a powerful hollow that will jump upon her at any second.

What she didn't expect was an Adjuchas, who looked like a large jaguar with a skull face, lying on the ground, broken, beaten, and on the verge of death. Around him were lesser hollows, nearly all dead from the spiritual pressure the Adjuchas was emitting. The ones that survived died when Yuzu passed by them.

When the Adjuchas saw her, he groaned, "great, as soon as I though I was safe, an Adjuchas comes along to eat me."

Yuzu knelt in front of him, but instead of her eating the hollow, the little girl inside her decided to show up.

"Um, who are you hollow-san?"

The hollow raised his head.

"So you aren't going to eat me?"

"You want me to eat you now?"

"No, no, no, no! I was just kidding. My name is Ray," said the hollow.

Yuzu smiled.

"Hello Ray-san, my name is Yuzu!"

"Hello to you too," replied Ray.

"Ray-san, what happened to you?"

"I was attacked."

"Attacked by whom?"

"A group who call themselves Deep. They're a bunch of hollows who named themselves after seafood. Seven of them ambushed me just over that tree over there. I tried to fight back but there were one too many of them," spat Ray.

Yuzu looked on, hanging onto every word.

"I'd love nothing more than to see those bastards bleed. Though I'll have to settle with the fact that one of them died six months ago, some guy named Claw was attacked by another Adjuchas, heard the fight destroyed one of the trees in the forest," Ray continued

Yuzu perked up.

"Oh, I killed Claw."

This caused Ray to pause.

"You're the one who killed Claw"

Yuzu nodded, "Uh huh!" And proceeded to tell him what had happened between her and Claw.

When she finished, Ray was laughing softly.

"That's Claw alright, always wanting to write stories even to the end. So, Yuzu, you sound like a little girl, how did a little girl like you end up here in Hueco Mundo?"

Yuzu pouted behind her mask. "I'm not a little girl; I'm over fourteen years old, I was thirteen when this smiling man attacked me and brought me to his place."

"That's still young for a hollow and…wait, a smiling man brought you here?"

"Yes."

"Would that man happen to be called Gin Ichimaru?"

"I don't know, that last thing I remember before being a hollow was that smiling man hitting me from behind," Yuzu looked sad for a moment, "I just was to return otou-san and the others."

Ray grumbled. Aizen was responsible for this girl being…what she is now. Forget the Deep, he vowed to help this girl avenge herself from those who wronged her, those persons being Aizen and his cronies. And return her to her family.

Silence descended between the two, when both of them felt several spiritual pressures from the distance.

"Heh, looks like my comrades are going to arrive soon. Yuzu, listen, I want you to eat me."

Yuzu tilted her head.

"But you said a while ago you don't want to be eaten."

"I know, but I want to help you return to your family, and so Aizen won't even think of attacking you."

He then flared his spiritual pressure, then yelled at the top of his lungs.

"IF ANY OF YOU CAN HEAR ME, KNOW THAT I AM GOING TO GET MYSELF EATEN BY A LITTLE GIRL. YOU HEAR ME HUECO MUNDO!"

Both of them then heard a sharp "NO!", and a massive spike in spiritual pressure.

Yuzu sensed something from her side, and deflected just in time to a claw that would have decapitated her had she not acted fast enough. She was facing a fox-like hollow, who was radiating an aura of rage. The hollow said.

"You will not eat Ray!" the voice of the hollow tell her it was female.

"Millia," started Ray.

"Don't even think about it Ray, you're not going to sacrifice youself for her!" shouted Millia, who now flicked her tail towards Yuzu, the latter using two of her tentacles to block the massive tail.

By this time, three more hollows arrived. One was large and looked like an elephant, another a bit smaller, resembling a large gorilla, and the last the smallest of them, looking almost human, with traces of being a bull in his horned mask and hoofed feet.

Yuzu and Millia continued their catfight, Millia jumped above Yuzu and swung her tail in an arc, coming down from above, Yuzu countered by launching her tentacles towards Milla, hoping to hit her before she is hit by the tail. But before both attacks can connect...

"Stop it!"

Both hollows froze, each of them looked at Ray, who was exasperated.

"Millia, Bao, Kong, Trunk, can you please listen to what I have to say."

"But Ray…"

"But nothing Millia, you didn't give me a chance to explain."

"But she was about to eat you!" said Millia, looking at Yuzu.

"Millia, I want her to eat me. Look can you hear me out first."

Millia looked towards her three companions, who shrugged.

"Go ahead Ray," said the smallest of them.

Ray told them what had happened before they got there. Of what Yuzu told him and of what he told Yuzu. All four of the newcomers were surprised at how young Yuzu was ("I was fighting a child? I'm so ashamed of myself," said Millia), of how she defeated Claw, and how she was turned into a hollow ("Aizen is going to pay for this," said the gorilla hollow.)

"And so you see, that's why I would like to get myself eaten. I'd like to help this girl get her revenge, and back to her family," said Ray.

Millia was sobbing, while the other three looked impassive.

"You don't have to do this Ray," said Millia

"I have to Millia, besides, I haven't eaten for far too long, I'm going to regress to being a Gillian soon," replied Ray.

Millia continued to sob.

Ray turned to the bull hollow. "Bao, do I get your permission?"

Bao looked at him. "It's not my decision, Ray, it's yours."

Ray nodded, and looked at Yuzu. "Go on Yuzu, consume me."

Yuzu looked at them all, and was having second thoughts.

Ray laughed. "Guys," he indicated his comrades, "look away."

Millia, bao, and the other two looked away, though Millia gave him one last pleading look before turning her head.

Yuzu knelt down in front of Ray, she hesitated, before taking a huge bite into Ray's head.

The crunch was heard for miles. It also caused Millia to sob harder.

It took Yuzu a long time to eat Ray, since he was an Adjuchas, and his friends were right behind her, she didn't want to eat one of their comrades.

When she was finished, the four turned around, Millia was being supported by the elephant hollow, while the other two looked at Yuzu.

Yuzu was about to say something when a surge of power, unlike any she had ever felt before, rose within her. She suddenly felt her body being torn apart and reformed, compressing into a smaller form that, strangely, felt more natural to her.

When the power subsided, Yuzu looked different. She was a lot smaller, and more-human like, looking like a girl of seventeen years old. She still lime-green though, and her skin covered her like a wetsuit. Her mask, once covering her entire head, now only covered her face. The back of her head was now rich in light brown hair that reached down to her waist. The tentacles, which had been her trademark, became smaller in diameter to fit her smaller body.

The four looked on in awe. They had just seen the birth of a Vasto Lorde. Bao, the first to recover, immediately adopted a serious expression. He turned around and waved his hand.

"Come on, let's get going, we've got a long trek ahead of us," he said, and started to walk.

The other three, who had found their jaws later, nodded, and followed him.

Yuzu stood there. She examined her new body. Unlike before, where she had to practice moving to get used to her Adjuchas body, this one felt natural to her, almost like it was her body from the very start.

She looking at her feet when Bao called after her.

"Hey."

Yuzu looked at him, he was standing some distance away, along with the other three hollows.

Yuzu looked confused.

"Um, I'm coming with you? But I ate your friend," she started, feeling guilty.

"All the more reason you need to come with us, you will take Ray's position in our group," said Bao.

Then he said in a more gentle tone. "At the very least you will no longer be alone."

The other three, Millia included, nodded.

That was the only motivation Yuzu needed. She wasted no time catching up with them, happy that at last she wasn't going to be alone in this harsh world.

**Author's note: **

'Ikari' can mean either 'anger' or 'anchor' in Japanese, depending on how you write it.

"Hipparu' means 'pull', according to a translation website.

I originally meant for Zaraki's zanpakuto to be 'naraku', but when I researched further it fond out it meant 'hell' instead of 'abyss', which was what I was aiming.

I hope you like Kenpachi's zanpakuto. If you remember in the series, he hates relying on others for help. So I gave him a sword that offers no help, and merely makes it more difficult for his enemies to escape.

This, is the longest chapter I have ever written in any story I created. Do not expect the next one to be this long. You notice there's more Hanatarō than Yuzu in this chapter; it's just that I had more ideas for him than Yuzu for this chapter. Hopefully the next one would focus more on Yuzu.

The pairing for Yuzu is none, for now. But the pairing for Hanatarō is still open. Put in your reviews your desired pairing for him and the reason for it. **Slash/yaoi pairings will be ignored.** I am not a fan of such pairings.

I'll make no promises, but expect another update this month, during my Christmas break.

Please read and review!


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